Host-parasitoid associations in marine planktonic time series: Can metabarcoding help reveal them?

In this study, we created a dataset of a continuous three-year 18S metabarcoding survey to identify eukaryotic parasitoids, and potential connections to hosts at the Long-Term Ecological Research station Helgoland Roads. The importance of parasites and parasitoids for food web dynamics has previousl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2021-01, Vol.16 (1), p.e0244817-e0244817
Main Authors: Käse, Laura, Metfies, Katja, Neuhaus, Stefan, Boersma, Maarten, Wiltshire, Karen Helen, Kraberg, Alexandra Claudia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biology and Life Sciences
DNA barcoding
DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic - methods
Ecological research
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Eukaryota
Food Chain
Host-Parasite Interactions - genetics
Host-parasite relationships
Identification and classification
Marine plankton
Medicine and Health Sciences
Natural history
Oceans and Seas
Parasitoids
Physical Sciences
Plankton - genetics
Research and analysis methods
RNA, Ribosomal, 18S - genetics
Seasons
Statistics
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Summary:In this study, we created a dataset of a continuous three-year 18S metabarcoding survey to identify eukaryotic parasitoids, and potential connections to hosts at the Long-Term Ecological Research station Helgoland Roads. The importance of parasites and parasitoids for food web dynamics has previously been recognized mostly in terrestrial and freshwater systems, while marine planktonic parasitoids have been understudied in comparison to those. Therefore, the occurrence and role of parasites and parasitoids remains mostly unconsidered in the marine environment. We observed high abundances and diversity of parasitoid operational taxonomic units in our dataset all year round. While some parasitoid groups were present throughout the year and merely fluctuated in abundances, we also detected a succession of parasitoid groups with peaks of individual species only during certain seasons. Using co-occurrence and patterns of seasonal occurrence, we were able to identify known host-parasitoid dynamics, however identification of new potential host-parasitoid interactions was not possible due to their high dynamics and variability in the dataset.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0244817